Garden Stripe is the collection's simplest stripe, a printed cotton with bands of colour that run across the width of the cloth rather than down it, in the manner of an old deckchair canvas. The ground is a plain 100 per cent cotton with a dry, matt hand, and the printing gives the edges of the stripe a softness a woven stripe never quite has. It is the kind of cloth that calms a room full of pattern, or gives a plain room a bit of backbone.
It is 134 centimetres wide with a 14.8 centimetre repeat along the length; because the stripe runs selvedge to selvedge there is no horizontal repeat. Tested to 23,000 rubs on the Martindale scale, it is recommended for curtains, loose and fixed upholstery and bedspreads, so it will take a chair as well as a window. There are two colourways: Spice, a warm terracotta on natural, and Red/Green, which ties directly to the florals in the collection.
Our first use for it is upholstery, railroaded so the stripe runs vertically down a slipper chair or an ottoman, where it looks tailored and a little sporting. As curtains it can be hung as it comes for a horizontal stripe, which is a bolder look we like in a boot room or a child's bedroom. It pairs with Garden Party or Firle in the same colourway. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.
A making-up note: railroading a 134 centimetre cloth means your drops become the width, so for a vertical stripe at the window you are limited to about 130 centimetres finished before you need a seam. For seat cushions and box-cushion borders, ask your upholsterer to line the stripes up across the seam, which is where a stripe is judged. Dry clean only.
